


Small Favour

by PhantomL



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 12:03:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2387630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomL/pseuds/PhantomL
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rin and Gou were young, Rin always helped Gou do her hair. When Rin was away from Gou, he had a method to keep himself in practice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Favour

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly just a dumb Matsuoka sibling headcanon I thought of which I decided to try and write in something which maybe resembles a fic. It's not really a proper fic by any means (more like headcanon rambling), but enjoy.

'Rin, Gou, we have to go soon!' the siblings' mother called from downstairs.

'One moment!' Rin shouted in response. He was in Gou's room helping her put her hair up. He had a hairbrush in his hand and was putting his sister's red hair into pigtails.

'Hurry up, onii-chan, I want to go shopping already,' the young girl complained.

'Sit still then,' the young boy said, as he brushed his sisters long red hair. 

'Ok,' she responded. Her twelve year old brother then secured the pigtails with pink hair ties.

'There, done,' Rin said. Gou smiled and gave her brother a hug.

'Thank you, onii-chan!' she said.

* * *

 When Rin and Gou were young, Rin always helped Gou style her hair. He did it as he enjoyed helping his younger sister and Gou thought he was good at it. Their mother would sometimes get annoyed when the boy would raid her jewellery box for pretty hair-clips whenever the family were going out for a celebration, but really she didn't mind. Things changed when Rin moved to Australia. He would only see his sister a few times a year, opposed to every day. The boy worried that he was going to get out of practice when it came to helping his sister with his hair. He wanted to be able to go back to the habit whenever he got back to Japan, but he couldn't do that without practice. One day when he was in Australia, the boy thought about this. He found himself looking in the mirror. His own red hair was pretty long, it always had been, he liked it that way. As he looked at himself in the mirror he began to play with hair, braiding a small section of it. He then reached for a thin hair tie and secured the small braid. The boy looked over his shoulder to make sure Russell or Lori weren't going to walk in, as he felt a little self conscious about the whole situation. Rin then realised what he could do to keep in practice so he could continue to help Gou do her hair when he went to Japan. He could practice on himself.

 

'Maybe it would be a good idea to cut your hair short, Rin,' Coach Brown said to Rin after one particularly bad practice. Rin shook his head, 'it might improve your swim times a little, as it won't be dragging in the water as much,' he said.

'No, I like it like this,' he responded, touching the ends of his damp red hair. Rin had actually considered the idea of wearing his hair shorter when he got to Australia, as it did get annoying in the summer from where it stuck to his neck and got sweaty, and maybe it could improve his swim times. However, he didn't because he liked his hair how it was, and if it was short he wouldn't be able to put it up, and that meant he wouldn't be able to practice for when he saw Gou.

 

Rin got in the habit of practising styling his hair when nobody was looking. He kept a tin full of ties and clips which he would use. He would also buy clips and ties for Gou to take back to her. He would put his hair into ponytails, braids and other styles, sometimes they didn't look right on his own hair, but he was sure they would look great on Gou. At Christmas, Rin would go back to Japan to see his family.

'Onii-chan!' Gou called when he came back one Christmas when he was fifteen years old. By this time, Rin had already become bitter and lost, but he still managed to put on a brave face for his family.

'You have gotten so big, Gou,' Rin muttered. 

'So have you!' the sister replied. Their mother announced that they were going to visit some relatives that evening and that it would be best for them to look smart. This was the perfect opportunity for Rin. When Gou was dressed, he went into her room. She was concentrating on putting some makeup on. Rin came up behind her, and began to brush her hair, 'what are you doing, onii-chan?' she asked. Rin didn't give a response. Gou's hair was longer than he remembered. This was good, as that meant he could do more with it. The boy put his sister's hair into a braid which he then twisted into a bun.

'There, done,' Rin said. Gou caught sight of the style in the mirror.

'Oh wow! It's great onii-chan!' she said, Rin gave no response, 'when did you get so good at styling people's hair?' Gou asked, noting that her brother's improvements. Rin responded with a shrug and slid a glittery flower hair-clip into his sister's hair.

'I bought that for you in Australia,' he muttered. He had some hair-ties which he had picked up as well, but he decided he was going to give them to Gou as part of her Christmas present.

'I look so pretty,' Gou said, she then got up and hugged her brother.

* * *

 Rin continued the habit of practising hairstyles on his own hair when he got back to Japan. He was able to see Gou a lot more, but he wanted to keep practising to get better and better to help his sister more. Rin would sometimes wear his hair in a ponytail casually, but when he was in his dorm and nobody was looking, he would continue to practice other styles which he could do for his sister. He tried to remain secretive, as Samezuka was an all-boys school, and walking around with his hair in pigtails probably wouldn't be the best idea. However, he did find himself in a few awkward situations. For example, when he was in his third year, Sousuke walked into the dorm to see Rin sat on the floor with his bangs weaved into two thin plaits secured with hair-ties with sharks on them.

'Ok then,' Sousuke said, walking past his rommate and on to his bed. Rin felt his cheeks turn pink.

'This isn't what it looks like!' Rin snapped. Sousuke's lips twitched into a smirk.

'If you say so, braid boy.'

 

After the relay which saved him, he began to see Gou and his mother a lot more. Whenever he did, he would always put Gou's hair up in a new fancy style. Rin hadn't told Gou of his technique to practice, as he found it a little embarrassing. A few days after the 'braid boy' incident, Rin went to see his sister. After the initial meet and greet, Rin put Gou's hair into two neat braids as they talked to each other.

'Haru never changes,' Rin said, as he secured the braids with fish hair-clips, 'I went out for lunch with the Iwatobi team last week, it was good,' he added.

'You do speak to them a lot now,' Gou replied, 'it makes me happy,' she said. 

'Have a look,' Rin said, pointing towards a mirror. Gou had a look at the two long braid.

'Oh wow, they look amazing!' she said. Gou's expression then became devious, 'my turn,' she said.

'Wait what?' Rin said. It was too late, Gou already had the hairbrush. Rin just had to accept his fate, as he let his sister have her fun. After a few minutes she was finished. She had put her brother's hair into a french braid, and she had also put pink flowery hair-grips in his hair. Rin shook his head.

'You look adorable!' Gou said.

'If you say so,' Rin muttered in response. Gou then went into her bag and pulled out her phone.

'We need to take a photo together!' she said. She then pulled her brother in to take a selfie. Rin hoped that she wouldn't show anyone the photo. However, she did. Rin found himself dealing with teasing from Nagisa for the next week or so as a result.

* * *

Rin went back to Australia after finishing school. He promised his friends and family that he would try and see them as much as possible. That did turn out to be true, as he kept in good contact with the Iwatobi's (especially Haru) and Gou came over to visit every few months (even though Rin insisted she should be focusing on her studies and future). Even if he didn't see his friends, he had regular skype calls with them to see if everyone was ok. Rin's return to Australia was much more successful than his first, he got along well with his team and was seen as one of the team's best swimmers early on. He also got along with the team most of the time. He also, stayed in the old habit of practising hairstyles on himself for whenever Gou visited. He stopped being so secretive about it when he got back to Australia, as he thought his team wouldn't really care. His team would tease him a lot for a variety of reasons, but most the time it was light banter which he could handle. Rin had heard the news that Gou was coming to visit one weekend, and the day before he turned up to practice with his red hair in a French braid.

'Ouch!' Rin yelped as one of his teammates pulled on the plait.

'Sorry, it's just kind of cute,' the teammate said. Rin gave him an annoyed look.

'I'm just doing a favour for my sister, ok?' Rin said. the Australian man then crossed his arms. A female swimmer then approached the two.

'I think that is pretty sweet, Rinny really is a sweet big brother,' she said, giving Rin a smile. Rin then just felt himself blush. He tried to pull the collar of his grey and purple tracksuit jacket over his face, but nothing could hide the fact that his teammate was right about him being a sweet big brother


End file.
